When Lloyds said it was moving 108,393 members of Your Tomorrow pension scheme to the Scottish Widows Master Trust effective from the early part of 2026. At the time it said:
“We have agreed in principle with Scottish Widows that any out of market risk for members should be negligible as investments move from the current scheme to the Scottish Widows Master Trust (SWMT)”.
The operative word here is ‘negligible’: “too small, slight, or unimportant to be worth considering or to have any real effect.”
We are aware that members in Tranche 1 of the transfer from Willis Towers Watson (WTW) to the SWMT have seen reductions in the value of the investments which are far from negligible. We are talking losses of tens of thousands in some of the cases we have seen. Those losses are neither small, slight nor too unimportant to be worth considering.
The WTW units for members in Tranche 1 were sold on 12th October when the market was low, and their SWMT units were purchased 3 days later when the market was high. Staff have been fobbed off by SW who are saying that’s the investment market and shares can go up and down. That’s true but staff didn’t actively choose to move from WTW to Scottish Widows; they had no agency in the decision. The decision to move investments was made by Lloyds. Why should any member of staff be worse off, especially when the Bank has said any risks of being out of the market will be negligible?
In seeking to justify the proposal, Ms. Sharon Doherty, Chief People and Places Officer, said: “This is about giving our people the same digital first experiences that we provide for millions of our customers, helping to empower them with their finances.”. Tranche 1 members don’t feel empowered; cheated would be a better word. But Ms Doherty’s right on one thing; at least members can see their losses very clearly!
SW and Lloyds need to put this right and make sure out of market adjustments are put right. Staff didn’t choose to move to SW, Lloyds did.
Members with any questions should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868 (Option 1).
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO THEIR COLLEAGUES IN HALIFAX & LLOYDS SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN LLOYDS BANKING GROUP.